This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

This time, in this department, one of five I run with a free hand to manage as I see fit, I focus on words that could be used to describe Donald Trump, the scofflaw who wants to be U.S. president again.

By the way, first, the other departments I run are the Department of Pet Peeves, the Department of “Just Saying,” the Department of Good Quotes Worth Remembering, and the Department of Inquiring Minds Want to Know.

Are there duplicate jurisdictions in these departments?  Probably.  But who cares?  I am in charge of all of them, so it doesn’t matter.

On to the words about Trump.

Caricature:  To describe Trump, this was the first word I thought of yesterday as I contemplated writing this blog.  Here is what it means:  “A picture, description, or imitation of a person in which certain striking characteristics are exaggerated in order to create a comic or grotesque effect.”

That’s Trump.  Never a real human being.  Just a caricature he creates to suit the moment, all for his own ends.

Narcissist:  I have used this word often to describe Trump.  Here is what it means:  “Having an excessive or erotic interest in oneself and one’s physical appearance.”

Sound like Trump?  Sure.

Shoot Americans:  Say what?  Trump actually has said this.  Note this quote from Trump’s Secretary of Defense Mark Esper who said, “He wanted to deploy active-duty troops on the streets of Washington, D.C., and suggested actually that we shoot Americans in the street.  That’s kind of more of what you’ll see.”  Esper further cautioned that Trump is not “fit for office because he puts himself first and I think anybody running for office should put the country first.”

Unfit to Serve:  That surely describes Trump who never served anyone or anything other than himself.  And that includes not serving in the military.

Some former advisers have gone so far as to warn that Trump is mentally unfit to serve.  Former U.S. Attorney William Barr said that “Trump is a consummate narcissist.  And he constantly engages in reckless conduct.   He’s a very petty individual who will always put his interests ahead of the country’s.  But our country can’t be a therapy session for a troubled man like this.”

Retribution:  That’s what Trump says he wants to do as president.  Seek retribution. 

More from Barr:  “He’s already saying it’s going to be about retribution.  And he’s, he’s a very petty man.  And it’s all about him.  And he has a very fragile ego.  Something happened to him as a kid and I’m not going to spend time psychoanalyzing it but, in every encounter, he has to come out showing the other guy that he’s better.  It’s all about the assertion of his ego, and I think he will be self-indulgent in a new administration and won’t be as effective as he could otherwise be and probably things would start moving toward chaos.”

Duty To Warn:  Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin used this phrase in what she recently wrote.

The “duty to warn” is a concept associated with mental health professionals who must alert authorities or a potential victim if their patient appears to be a threat to others.  In a non-medical context, those who once took the oath of office have a “duty to warn” the country of the fundamental threat to national security and democratic institutions that Trump represents.

A couple years ago, I wrote another blog on this subject.  Here are excerpts from that blog – more words about Trump. They are still true today as they were then:

• Lacks honesty.  Why else do lies come to him so easily as second nature?

• Lacks conscience.  Why else, for example, could he tolerate his own action to separate immigrant children from their families.

• Lacks empathy.  Why else would he criticize U.S. military war hero John McCain, both in life and in death?

• Lacks decency.  Why else would he act toward women as if they are just objects?

Enough for today.  The Department of Words Matter is now closed, unless I think of more words about Trump.